CIODAY 2016

Ron van Kemenade received the award for his crucial role in the trail-blazing digital development of ING. “With his focus on technology he lays the foundation of an entirely new organisation, the contours of which are gradually becoming visible,” chairman of the jury Bernhard van Oranje said when he motivated the choice. “It is wonderful to see how he gets inspired by the big digital global players.”

Van Kemenade turned out to be the best in virtually all criteria of the selection process: the total score of the qualitative and quantitative review by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the intensive leadership assessment of Linqhu, and the final interview with the jury. Although he comes less to the fore in the Dutch CIO community than the other nominees, he is highly appreciated by fellow IT managers. “We have selected a leader who positions IT and technology in the organisation in a fundamentally different way,” Van Oranje explained.

The CIO of the Year Award was presented at the CIODAY in the Amsterdam Beurs van Berlage on Tuesday, 29 November. Over 700 senior IT officials witnessed the occasion. The other nominees for the title were Michel van Hout (Transavia), René van Sandijk (Vanderlande), Hendrik-Jan Smaal (Heijmans), Gerard Spans (Arcadis) and Teun van der Vorm (ANWB).

Scalable While many fellow CIOs are still pondering on the course of the digital world, the visionary Ron van Kemenade has already made considerable headway. ING is moving with him toward a globally scalable digital business model. An unprecedented transformation, with Netflix, Facebook, Google and Spotify as the great inspirators. “We lean on parties that are ahead of us to make the bank more competitive, not only with respect to our traditional competitors but also regarding the digitally born fintechs.” At the new ING, engineering is regarded as a core competency.

Rob Beijleveld, CEO of ICT Media and the initiator of the CIO of the Year Award, thinks Van Kemenade is one of the best CIOs in the world. “With his focus on engineering he has a genuinely distinctive vision and approach.” The other members of the jury were also very enthusiastic about the winner.

Tjibbe van der Zeeuw (Linqhu): “Ron van Kemenade is not an average hierarchical leader but rather someone with great ambitions. He knows how to change ING from the inside. As a CIO he is like a bird that steers the course from the middle of the flock.”

Marc Schuuring (Boston Consulting Group): “He stands out from the others by his focus on technology and engineering. In this respect, he gives the IT industry a new impulse. He gives and takes in an open ecosystem.”

Marcel Krom (chairman CIO Platform Netherlands and CIO PostNL): “By this development he counterbalances the advancing fintech companies, which he collaborates with as well. This is how he takes the right steps for his organisation.”

Jury process Similar to last year, a strict and objective process was adopted with respect to award the prize to the nominee with the highest scores on performance and the way in which nominees embodied their role and position. The fact that only one winner was chosen, does not at all mean the other nominees came in for a negative assessment. Though the nature and complexity of their organisations as well as their impact and influence showed marked differences, the candidates were by no means out of place on so exquisite a shortlist.

In the assessment by BCG and Linqhu, criteria like performance, perception by the business, and personal competencies had been considered. The final meeting of the jury at the Pinnacle Tower in Amsterdam, attended by all nominees, was a final validation of the selection process used.

A new member was Louis Luijten (ASML). For the 2017 election he will be asked to step down in favour of the winner of the CIO of the Year Award 2015, Arnoud Klerkx (Sanoma Learning). This year, too, support for the personal assessments was provided by Bianca van der Zeeuw (Plan B).

In the 1990’s William Binney, who worked as an analyst for the NSA at the time, created the basis for automating signals intelligence analysis. These systems would form the basis for the mass-surveillance tools Edward Snowden would reveal in 2013. As Binney feared, mass-surveillance would not be effective and failed to put readily available data together in time to prevent 9/11. William Binney left the NSA in 2001 in protest over the adoption of mass-surveillance and resulting faillures by the agency. He will speak on strategic info-security and intelligence challenges. One of the main challenges for European business-leaders is the growing problem of digitally-enabled industrial espionage that is costing Europe about 200 billion euro per year in lost economic opportunities.

CIOs must prepare for a rapid evolution of digital business into algorithmic and ultimately more autonomous approaches. In financial services, retail, media, ‘exchanges,’ et cetera, companies are aggressively abstracting business functions and services by utilising sensor data, analytics, smart machines and grid-plex data centers. CIOs must work with business leaders to determine how they can exploit these trends to improve efficiency, agility, quality, growth, et al. This will demand new capabilities and expertise in advanced analytics and algorithms, as well as new supporting infrastructures.

If you want to build a business that lasts, there may be no better place to look for inspiration than your own immune system. Join strategist Martin Reeves as he shares startling statistics about shrinking corporate life spans and explains how CIOs can apply six principles from living organisms to build resilient businesses that flourish in the face of change.

Neil Harbisson is the co-founder of the Cyborg Foundation, an organisation that promotes the use of cybernetics as a body part to extend human senses and perception. Harbisson has an antenna implanted in his skull that allows him to perceive colours that are outside human vision such as infrareds and ultraviolets. This talk will explore how taking an active part in our own biological evolution is no longer a theory, but an option. Becoming technology, instead of using or wearing technology, opens up the possibility of having additional organs and senses beyond the ones confined to our species. By merging ourselves with technology we can become the designers of our own body and perception; and we can increase our survival possibilities in earth and in outer space. Are we witnessing the renaissance of our species?

How much change can companies bear? How are they dealing with the increasingly assertive online consumer, the growing (information) chain-dependence, as well as the needs and wishes of young technology talent? What new kind of structures do we need to address all this? Is hierarchy really obsolete? Is technology the answer to everything?

And what role plays the CIO in these new dynamics? Is he or she seamlessly aligned with the CEO and/or the company strategy? Or is there a new type of IT leader required, like the Chief Digital Officer (CDO)? Or should the CIO transform into a CTO? Questions that will yield interesting answers, and not only for the CIO. It will also indicate how ‘IT savvy’ the contemporary directors are.

The CIO’s agenda resembles that of the CEO more and more. This is not surprising, since both officials have the same priority top five, according to IBM think tank leader Peter Korsten. He bases his comment on a study among 5,247 business leaders and managers from all across the globe. “Technology is the number one by a wide margin, followed by the ability of responding to market developments and matters concerning legislation and regulations.”

Macroeconomic developments and employee skills still come in for a high score, Korsten says, but these are focused on to a lesser extent than several years ago. The CIO’s and CEO’s future agendas fully reflect the character of an age in which the role of technology steadily increases, the Global Leader Thought Leadership & Eminence of the IBM Institute for Business Value says. “For the first time since we have been conducting this longitudinal study among C-level managers, technology has the highest priority, on average. This is a breakthrough, which also underlines the CIO’s importance.”

CIODAY2016 At CIODAY2016, in the Amsterdam Beurs van Berlage on 29 November, Peter Korsten will present the study results at an interactive, plenary session with several Dutch top managers. At the event, the former Boston Consulting Group and PricewaterhouseCoopers consultant will zoom in with honorary chairman Joost Hoebink on the interaction between CIO and CEO. The results of the IBM C-Suite study, which has been running since 2003, indicate that this interaction is becoming more important and intensive.

“A breakthrough, which also underlines the CIO’s importance”

Many themes yet unaddressed occupy the CIO’s mind, though. Security risks, for instance, are the biggest challenge for 76 per cent of respondents responsible for IT. Other risk factors, such as data leaks and non-compliance with legislation and regulations, lag behind considerably. “With respect to promising technologies, CIOs are particularly interested in mobile, cloud, the Internet of Things, cognitive applications and advanced manufacturing.”

The IBM Institute for Business Value looked more deeply into what Peter Korsten calls the ‘next wave of investments’: the technologies that will be invested in most in the next three to five years. In this context, as much as 44 per cent of CIOs mentioned advanced analytics and cognitive computing, followed by cloud computing (40 per cent) and security & risk (36 per cent).

Torch-bearers Quite interestingly, the study brought to light a category of innovating companies that performed significantly better than their competitors: the so-called torch-bearers. It was found that the top five of CEOs world-wide, people at the helm of such companies, have their primary focus on mobile and cognitive computing. “To a much greater extent than the followers do,” says Korsten. “Advanced analytics, especially focused on understanding the customers better, is top of the list of the CIOs of these torch-bearers. This focus clearly yields a competitive advantage. It is also interesting that the CIOs of torch-bearers are substantially better in realising partnerships.”

In addition to responding well to customer needs, in collaboration with the right partner, speed is also important. “It is a matter of ‘be first, be best or be nowhere’,” the IBM researcher says. “It’s not always about being first, but what you provide has to be the best for the customer. Look at the market for smart watches. Apple was maybe not the first, but they were the best. This is what made them the market leader.” As evidenced by the study, the CEO has set his sights on the customer too. No less than 82 per cent of top senior level managers expect more digital interaction with the end-customer, up from 60 per cent in 2014.

Any other new, interesting insights? Korsten: “More than enough, but I will save them for my presentation at CIODAY2016.”

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